Genius and NationThe Cult of the
Art and the Invention of Germany in the Nineteenth Century

German 4102, Spring 1995
Washington University
Lutz Koepnick

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This semniar examines the political legacy of romantic art, in particular
the notion of art as a vehicle of individual and collective redemption,
in nineteenth-century literature and culture. Special attention is given
to the implication of art in the construction of German national identity
around 1870, the role of literature in the foundation of authoritarian
rule and the projects of colonial expansion, and the impact of genius cults
on the aesthetic revolt against bourgeois culture around 1900. Writers
and artists discussed include Arthur Schopenhauer, C. D. Friedrich, Georg
Büchner, Clara Wieck-Schumann, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Thomas Mann,
Wilhelm Jensen, Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, Stefan George, Wilhelm
II, Rudolf Borchardt, Theodor Storm, and Hermann Hesse. Discussion, readings,
and papers in German.

COURSE SCHEDULE

I. Modelling Art and the Artist: Catalysts of Transcendencein
Modern Life